When Your First Friend is a Witch
by Redsinky
Summary: Idea that might continue... Rin didn't make friends. All the children he interacted with were too scared of him, or they were the ones he was fighting against. It's not that he couldn't, it's just he ruined his chances with friendship locally, and perhaps the entirety of Japan. So, maybe, doing this activity would at least make him friends outside of Yukio.


There was one time, during their childhood years, Rin arrived to school alone. It never happened before, and the student body was awashed with gossip throughout the day. The thing was, whenever Yukio was sick, Rin was allowed to stay at home to help care for his brother, but this time, his younger brother wasn't bedridden with any sort of common cold. He knew it was different, something he wasn't allowed to know about since the Old Man had chased Rin out the door that morning, but not without Rin noticing the uncommon illness befalling his twin.

Yukio was an assortment of sickly purple-brown-green, a darkening bruise on his inner wrist where three claw-like marks had slashed through the young flesh. The wound was not adorned with the inflamed redness that was common in slashing wounds, this Rin would know after all the fights he'd been through, but it had a weird glow, pulsating as if it was alive and squirming inside his brother's body systems. He knew he wasn't supposed to see that, knew they wanted him to think it was another bout of flu, nevertheless, he still noticed it. They were twins, afterall. One couldn't get hurt without the other knowing, neither could they stop the other from tracking the other down, or not notice the trouble, the intense emotions swirling inside them, or even the occasional stray thought flowing into each other's minds. And so, over the entire day, Rin was bombarded with his twin's fear, the pain, the guilt, and the constant mantra of "I'm not good enough. I was pathetic. I have to be stronger." It was because of that, Rin wasn't as hyper, nor as tempermental. He had figurative clouds over his head and raining heavily. He didn't react as much when the teacher announced a surprise to the class, not even when a blank piece of paper was given to him.

'Anyone who had recieved a blank piece of paper has been given the special opportunity to participate in a letter exchange program that has been commissioned by our national governement. This program spreads all around Japan covering elementary, middle and senior high school, and it is the reason why there were limited spaces for students to participate. As it was, the teaching body of our school had decided to randomly pick the names of students out of a hat. Some classes, and most grades would have no one to participate, so we are very lucky to have two in this class. Iwa Hinata! Okumura Rin! Please stand!' the teacher called out, and two students stood. 'These two will be the ones participating in the program, and maybe you can help them out write their letters too if you want.'

The majority of the children in the class flocked to Iwa Hinata, the young girl smiling brightly at the attention, whilst some glanced towards Rin, contemplative, until it was replaced by fear.

# (In Japanese)  
Hello, whoever you are,

My name is Rin, and I'm 9. What's your name and age?  
This is the first time I ever wrote a letter to someone,  
and I needed a lot of help. My teacher is the one writing  
for me, but all the words are from me!  
Teacher said I have to work on my handwriting, but I wanted  
you to be able to read my first letter before you read the ones  
written by my hand. I'm very nervous, and I don't know what  
else to say, so this will have to do.

Until, perhaps, and maybe,  
Next time,

Rin#

Rin smiled gratefully at his teacher, and left the school with something in his heart. Maybe it was space, space for him and not with is brother. Space for him to think, to be just Rin.

His reply arrived two weeks later, having taken the longest between Iwa's letter and himself. Rin had almost forgotten about it, well he couldn't, but he ignored the heavy feeling in his chest whenever teacher shook their head after another empty letter box.

# (Translated to Japanese)  
Dear Rin,

My name is Hermione -her-my-o-nee- Granger -gur-ae-n-jur- and I'm 7!  
When I first got your letter it was in a language I've never heard yet, but  
I do now! An aquaintance of father's told me it was japanese, being of a  
japanese descent himself. He offered to translate your letter to english  
for me, and translate my letter to japanese for you too!  
This is so exciting! We could teach each other our languages, it  
would be so much fun!  
Anyways, I live in London, England. How about you?  
And you're 9! Wow, you're two years older than me! You could teach me,  
but I'm just starting to learn japanese, and you're just starting to know my name  
in english, so we're in the same boat.  
Do you have an hobbies? What's your favourite colour? Your likes and dislikes?  
My hobby is reading a lot things, mainly to learn new information, but because of  
that I am smarter than my peers and they shun me. I don't have many friends, or  
at all actually. They say I'm bossy, and snobbish and a goody-two-shoes,  
but they shouldn't be breaking the rules anyways! Adults are always right, right?  
Oh, my letter is getting a bit long. I don't wish to bore you too much.

Until, a definite,  
Next time,

Hermione Granger.#

Rin stared at his letter, blinked multiple times, and rolled his tongue to enounciate the name of his letter exchanging partner. It was difficult, but he finally got it right. At least his name was easy to say.

The teacher looked at him and smiled. 'Do you want me to tutor you in English, Rin-chan?'

Rin nodded, grinning up at the adult.


End file.
